Here’s why South Africa’s women are still forced into unsafe ways to terminate pregnancy

Only half of the state facilities designed to provide abortions are actually delivering the service.

This is one of the findings presented in Amnesty International’s Barriers to Safe and Legal Abortions in South Africa research briefing released on Wednesday. The research was done in collaboration with the University of Cape Town’s Women’s Health Research Unit.

Wednesday marks 20 years since the adoption of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (CTOPA). The briefing highlights three primary barriers to safe and legal abortions in the country – the failure to regulate conscientious objection‚ inequalities in access to services for poor and marginalised communities and a lack of information on s-e-xual and reproductive rights.